Secure Your Computer

If your computer is insecure, you are putting not only your own work at risk but also that of others on the IU network.

Following the steps outlined in this section will greatly improve the overall security of your computer.

If you are in an IU department with IT support staff, always consult them about the preferred practices in your area. Also, don’t forget to secure all operating systems on your computer – if you have a Mac that runs Windows, make sure you secure both.

In this section

More Information

Additionally, if you store any type of sensitive data on your computer, see the section: Protecting Data. There, you'll find information such as how to identify it, protect it, and securely dispose of it.

Security & Policy Blog Posts

  • May 17, 2013 at 12:52 PM

    • Critical Linux Kernel Security Update
    A local, unprivileged user can use a Linux kernel flaw to gain escalated privileges, without authentication, on a system running a Linux kernel. Technical details, as well as exploit code, have been publically released.
  • April 10, 2013 at 4:07 PM

    • S/MIME certificates available
    S/MIME certificates are now available to all IU personnel at no cost.
  • March 13, 2013 at 4:00 PM

    • Policy Draft IT-28 Provisioning of IT Services
    IU VP for IT and Chief Information Officer, Brad Wheeler, spoke at a town hall meeting on March 8th on the subject of, “Mitigating Cyber Risks,” including the current risk environment, and the development of IT-28.
  • March 1, 2013 at 5:06 PM

    • Domain 12: Compliance
    As Jacqueline Simmons explains, IU operates in a complex legal, regulatory, & contractual environment, with responsibilities to comply with applicable legal, regulatory, & contractual requirements regarding safeguards over information and information assets. Doing so protects the university's reputation & minimizes the risk of negative financial consequences associated with noncompliance.

    Recent Security Bulletins

  • February 12, 2013 at 11:03 AM

    • Vulnerabilities in Adobe ColdFusion
    This bulletin details four recently published, critical rated, vulnerabillies in Adobe ColdFusion and ways to mitigate the risk of them being exploited including the hotfix for supported versions.
  • January 22, 2013 at 9:02 AM

    • Java Security Recommendations
    As the use of Java applets on websites continues to diminish and in light of the rash of recent vulnerability exploits, the implications of installing Java for use in web browsers should be considered carefully.
  • January 10, 2013 at 1:59 PM

    • Zero Day Java 7 Vulnerability
    On January 10, 2013, security researchers reported a zeroday vulnerability in Oracle Java 1.7u10.
  • November 8, 2012 at 3:50 PM

    • Vulnerability in Symantec Endpoint Protection
    On November 5th, 2012, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) website announced their researcher had discovered a vulnerability in the way some versions of Symantec Endpoint Protections handle CAB files. This vulnerability may allow an unauthenticated remote or local attacker to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a targeted computer.